'^ 



1^' 



Greenbrier Countv, 
VVest Vir(5\nia . 

J.J.MooTTnaT\,M.Ii. 




Book JJ4 Mes 



.nm '^' 




<^ 



V 



waft ufMSM ufiilriS 

GREENBRIER COUNTY, 

WEST VIRGINIA. 



Y,\ 



Physician to the Springs. 



COPYHiaHT SECUHED ACCORDING TO LAW. 



Vt0W of the 

(hur springs 




If ill 



251*. 



mmt fit 



^sm 



WITH THE 



ANALYSIS OF ITS WATERS, 



{|g pimm 18 f !|li 



3fS ftpp«i38l0, 



AND SOME ACCOUNT OP 



Society and its Amusements at the Springs, 



BY 



J\ J. MooRywAN, M 




Physician to the White Sulphur Springs ,• Author of Mineral Waters 

of the South and Southwest ; of Mineral Springs of North 

America^ &c. (&c\/ late Professor of Medical Jurisprudence 

and Hygiene in the Washington U)iiversity , BaUimore; 

Member of the Medico- Chirurgical Society of 

Maryland ; of the Baltimore Medical 

Association^ ctv., cfc^., &c. 



BALTIMORE : 

THE SUN BOOK AND JOB PRINTING OFFICB 
1879. 



^ 



%" 



l]tTIDE2S, 



I>RELIMiNARY REMARKS 8 

XOCAlilTY OF THE SPRINGS 4 

P.OUTES BY WHICH THEY ARE REACHED 5 

aiXTENT AND CHARACTER OF ACCOMMODATIONS 5 

ANALYSIS OF THE WATERS 6 

MEDICINAL CHARACTER AND CURATIVE POWERS 8 

POPULAR ERRORS IN THE USE OF MINERAL WATERS . 10 

BEST PERIOD FOR INVALID VISITATION 12 

DISEASES TO WHICH THE WHITE SULPHUR IS APPLI- 
CABLE • ^^ 

EFFECTS OF THE WATER IN INEBRIATION 23 

USE OF THE WATER BY OPIUM EATERS 24 

DISEASES IN WHICH THE WATER SHOULD NOT BE USED. 25 
CHALYBEATE SPRING AT THE WHITE SULPHUR. ....... 26 

BATHING AT THE WHITE SULPHUR 26 

SOCIETY AND ITS AMUSEMENTS 27 

^^^ See Aiinouncemmt at close of Pamphlet, and CARD 
of Proprietors as to the Non-use of the zvaters, except to 
cTuests on the Grounds. 




WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS, 

Greenbrier County, West Virginia. 

PA M P H L E T for general circulation, adapted for a 
HaxVdbook to guide the distant stranger as to the loca- 
tion and exte}it of acco?fimodatuvis of the White Sulphur 
Springs, to point out the different routes by which they 
may be reached, and at the same time indicating in a 
concise manner the imious diseases for which their waters have 
been advantageously used, has long been a desideratum with the 
Spring-going public. 

In attempting to supply this want, by the issue of this pamphlet, 
I shall not msert general certificates in proof of the value and 
medicmal adaptations of the waters to the various diseases for 
which they have been so long successfully used. The publication 
of such certificates, while they might be serviceable in some cases, 
would, nevertheless, be liable to mislead from the want of proper 
and scientific discrimination as to the precise nature of the cases 
given. 

_ Mineral waters, to establish and perpetuate a valuable reputa- 
tion, must be carefully kept within the dear boundary of their Liver 
oz'er disease, and 7Vithin their true adaptation as curative agents To 
be efficiently employed, whatever be the name of the ^disease for 
which they are used, the state of the system at the time and a proper 
administration, so as to secure desired effects, are important points 
that cannot be safely ignored. 

There are biasing partialities and prejudices in the whole ceriin. 
cate system that arc sure to intrude in despite of every effort to 
keep them out, and hence it is that conclusions in such cases are 
apt to be too sweepingly made to be realized bv those who rely 
upon them. I have had abundant reason to know that -reat injus- 
tice ,s often done to suffering humanity, however unin?entionally 
and ultimately, too, to mineral waters, by having them placed 
through vague and extravagant certificates, upon the common plat^ 
form with patent medicines. In this way hopes are often created 
in the minds of invalids that are destined to sad disappointment 
while the failure of the waters to accomplish all that has been inju* 
diciously promised for ihem causes their reputation unduly to suffer 
in public estimation. ^ 

Mineral waters possess great and valuable powers, and are in 
many cases superior to the medicines of the apothecary's shop; 



4 WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS. 

and when used under proper and judicious discrimination are well 
qualified to assume a plac'e in the great medical mind of the world, 
and, like well defined articles of the materii fuedica, stand promi- 
nently forth as most valuable resources of the healing art. 

These views are sanctioned by a sufficient amount of truth and 
importance to influence me against the common practice of pub- 
lishing certificates of cases of diseases, unless such cases had been 
carefully diagnosed by a party competent to such duty, and so 
clearly described as to give them a fair claim to an intelligent pub- 
lic reliance. Upon this branch of the subject, therefore, I propose 
to rely upon the general results of public opinion, formed from the 
use of the water for nearly a century, and from my own professional 
experience in iheir administration iox forty years, in cases the pre- 
cise pathology and nature of which were carefully investigated in 
connection with their use in each case, enabling me, I conceive, to 
determine their power and applicabilities with the certainty that 
physicians determine the peculiar action of any article of the drug 
shop with which they are most familiar. 

LOCALITY OP THE SPEINGS. 

The White Sulphur Springs are situated on Howard's Creek, 
in Greenbrier Coimty, West Virginia, and upon the western slope 
of the great Apalachian chain of mountains which separates the 
waters that flow into Chesapeake Bay from those that run into the 
Gulf of Mexico. 

The situation of the Spring is elevated and beautifully pictur- 
esque, surrounded by mountains on every side. Kates Mountain 
is in full view, and about two miles to the south ; to the west, and 
distant about one mile, are the Greenbrier Mountains, while the 
towering Alleghany in its magnificent proportions is found five 
miles to the north and east. 

The Spring is in the midst of the celebrated " Spring Region," 
having the " Hot," '-Warm" and " Healing Springs" from thirty to 
thirty-five miles to the north ; the "Sweet" and the "Sweet Chaly- 
beate" sixteen miles to the east; the "Salt" and the " Red Sul- 
phur," the one twenty- four, the other forty-one miles to the south. 
Its latitude is about 37)^° north and its longitude 31/° west from 
Washington. Its elevation above tide water is 2,000 feet. The 
temperature of its waters is 62° Fahrenheit, from which they do not 
vary during the heat of summer or the cold of winter. 

The Spring yields more than thirty gallons a minute; and it is a 
remarkable fact that this quantity is not perceptibly varied during 
the longest spells of wet or dry weather. The quantity and tem- 
perature of the Spring, being uniform under all circumstances, give 
a confidence, which experience has verified, of its uniform strength 
and efficiency. 



ROUTES TO THE SPRINGS. 5 

It is sun-ounded by mountain and intervale scenery of great 
beauty, and blessed with a most delightful summer and fall climate. 
Independently of the benefit to be derived fron\ the waters, a bet- 
ter situation for a residence of invalids and delicate persons during 
the summer and fall months can scarcely be imagined. They have 
here the advantage of a most salubrious and invigorating air and 
the most agreeable temperature— cool at morning and evening, 
and at no time oppressively warm. The thermometer ranges here 
during the summer between 60° and 75°, and rarelv attains a 
greater height than Sf at any time of the day, while 'the atmos- 
l)here is so elastic and invigorating as to enable invalids to take 
exercise in tlie open air without inconvenience or fatigue. 

EOUTES TO THE SPEINGS. 

The IV/ii/d Sulphur is immediately on the Chesapeake and Ohio 
Railroad, 100 miles west of Staunton. This road is now completed 
to Huntingdon, on the Ohio river, thus rendering the Springs ap- 
l)roachable by rail both from the Hist and West. 

1^ Travelers from the North or East, by rail, must necessarily 
make the city of Staunton a point in their line of travel. 

^P l^he route to the Springs from Washington is by way of the 
Orange and Alexandria Railroad to Gordonsville; thence on to 
the Chesapeake and Ohio Road, by the way of Staunton, or by 
Harper's Ferry, and uj) the Shenandoah Valley to Staunton. 

Ky Persons coming from the West or Southwest may travel 
ether by way of Washington or via Cincinnati to Huntingdon, the 
termmus of the Chesapeake and Ohio Road, and thence on this 
road about 160 miles to the Springs. 

The route from Cincinnati by way of Huntingdon is several 
hundred miles shorter than the old route by Washington. 

5[y Those who wish to reach the Springs from the South have 
a contmuous chain of railroad, either by way of Richmond or 
Knoxville, Tennessee. 

If the Knoxville route is taken, the traveler proceeds by way of 
Lynchburg to Chariottesville. At the latter place he takes the 
cars of the Chesapeake and Ohio Road for the White Sulphur, 
140 miles distant. 

^ The time from Washington to White Sulphur is about fif- 
teen hours. 

EXTENT AND CHARACTER OP ACCOMMOLJ^TIONS. 

In the spring of 1857 this property was purchased by a company 
ot gentlemen, residmg principally in Virginia, who, in virtue of an 
act ot the Legislature, associated themselves in a joint stock com- 
pany, under the name of the " White Sulphur Spring Company " 



6 WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS. 

In conformity with the public demand for a large extension of 
accommodations, the Company immediately entered upon an ex- 
tensive system of improvement, designed alike to increase the 
capacity of the property for the accommodation of visitors, and at 
the same time to beautify and adorn the grounds. To these ends 
they have erected the largest building in the Southern country — 
its dimensions being 400 feet in length by a corresponding width, 
and covering more than an acre of ground. This building is ap- 
propriated for receiving rooms ^ dining roo?n, ball room^ parlors, lodging 
rooms, etc. The parlor is one of the most elegant and spacious 
saloons in America, being half as large again as the celebrated 
" East Room " in Washington, The dining room is one of the 
largest in the world, being upwards of 300 feet long by a corres- 
ponding width, and conveniently seating 1,200 persons. 

The Company has also built a large number of handsome cot- 
tages for families. In several respects the grounds have been 
greatly improved, particularly by the construction of broad ser- 
pentine v/alks in various directions through the lawns, and by 
widening and extending the romantic and popular Stroll, known 
/as the " Lover's Walk." With these improvements, together with 
|a new and capacious bathing establishment, and the removal of 
many of the old buildings to new locations, by which the lawns 
are enlarged and adorned, the property alike in capacity, in con- 
venience, and in the elegance of its arrangements, exhibits a new 
and greatly improved appearance. 

ANALYSIS OF THE WATEE3. 

The White Sulphur was analyzed in the winter of 1842, by Prof. 
Hayes, of Boston, from a few bottles of the water sent to his 
laboratory the j)receding fall. From his report, 50,000 grains 
(about seven pints) of this water contains a solution 3,633 water 
grain measure ol gaseous matter, or about 1.14 of its volume, 
consisting of 

Nitrogen Gas 1.013 

Oxygen Gas .108 

Carbonic Acid , 2.244 

Hydro-Sulph. Acid* 068 

One gallon, or two hundred and thirty-seven cubic inches of 
the water, contains 19 739-1000 cubic inches of gas, having the 
proportion of 

Nitrogen Gas 4.680 

Oxygen Gas 498 

Carbonic Acid 11.290 

Hydro-Sulph. Acid 271 

*It must be tx)rne in mind that this water was examined by Prof. Hayes 
several months after its removal from the Spring, and consequently after it ha(J 
part^ with a large portion of its free hydro sul ph. acid gas. 



ANALYSIS OF THE WATERS. 7 

Fifty thousand grains of this water contain 115.735-000 grains 
of saline matter, consisting of 

Sulphate of Lime 67.168 

Sulpliale of Magnesia 30.364 

Chloride of Mai^neKium 859 

Carbonate of Lime 6 060 

Organic Matter (dried at 212') 3.740 

Carbonate Acid 4.584 

Silicates (Silica 1.34, Potash 18, Soda 66, Magnesia and a trace 
of Oxide of Iron) 2.960 

Professor Hayes remarks that the organic matter of the water, 
in its physical and chemical character, differs essentially from the 
organic matters of some thermal waters ; in contact with earthly 
sulphates, at a moderate temperature, it ])roduces hydro-sulphuric 
acid, " and io this source that acid co?itai)ied in the water may be 
traced^' He adds : 

" The medicinal properties of the water is probably due to the 
action of this organic substance. The hydro-sulphuric acid, result- 
ing from its natural action, is one of the most active substances 
within the reach of physicians, and there are chemical reasons for 
supposing that after the ivater has 7 cached the stomach simila? changes^ 
accompanied by the products of hydro-siilph. acid, take place. '"^^ 

Professor William B. Rogers also analyzed this water, with the 
following results : 

Solid matter, procured from 100 cubic inches, dried at 212° 
Fah., consisting of 65-54 grains. 

Sulphate of Lime. 31 680 grains. 

Sulphate of Magnesia 8 241 " 

Sulphate of Soda 4 050 

Carbonate of Lime 1.530 " 

Carbonate of Magnesia 506 " 

Chloride of Magnesium 0.071 ** 

Chloride of Calcium 0.010 

Chloride of Sodium 0.226 

Proto-Sulphate of Iron 0.069 " 

Sulphate ot Alumniae 0.012 *' 

Earthy Phosphates— a trace. 

Azotized Organic Matter blended with large propor- 
tion of Sulphur, about 0.005 " 

Iodine, combined with Sodium or Magnesium. 

Volume of each of the gases, in a free state, estimated in 100 
cubic inches : t 

Sulphuretted Hydrogen 66 

Nitmgen 1.88 

Oxygen 0.19 

Carbonate Acid 3.67 

•See Chapter III. on the " Relative virtues of the saline and gaseou.s contents 
of the White Sulphur Water," In the ''Mineral Springs of Nar(/i America, ' by the 
Author. 

tlOO oubic inches amount to about three and a half pints. 



WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS. 



MEDICAL CHAEACTER OF THE WATES. 

The distinctive medical influences of this water upon the system 
are cathartic, diuretic, sudorific and alterative. 

Some cathartic and diuretic effect, as well as a distinct determi- 
nation to the skin by sweating, is easily induced under its use in 
the great majority who drink it. But the most decidedly control- 
ing effect of the water over diseased action, and that which, more 
than every other, gives its highest and most valuable character as 
a remedy, is its alterative power, or that peculiar action by 
which it effects salutary chaijges or alterations in the blood, in the 
various secretions, and upon the various tissues of the body. 

The certain effects of the water in stimulating glandular secre- 
tions, dissolving chjvjiic infiam?nations, overcoming obstructions, and 
throwing off offensive debris from the diseased system, leave no 
doubt of its distinctive and active alterative powers. Indeed, no 
article of the Materia Medica has more decided alterative effects. 

I desire especially to call the attention of physicians, and the 
intelligent public generally, to this distinctive and remarkable qual- 
ity of the water. In this, more than anything else, it differs from 
other mineral waters. Many other waters are found to possess 
valuable alterative power, and with an equal or greater cathartic or 
diuretic action, but none have yet been shown to be so certainly, 
promptly ?coA poiverfidly alterative upon the human system.. 

Some of my unprofessional readers may desire to know the pre- 
cise meaning that is attached to the term alterative, in a medical 
sense. This term simply means to alter or change; that is, to alter 
or change the chemical composition of the blood, the secretions 
of the glands and the various secretory organs and surfaces, the 
removal of obstructions from the glands or minute vessels which 
occur in congestions, irritations and inflammations — thas restoring 
the blood and the general organism to their natural condition and 
to the performance of their natural functions. 

I claim that the v/ater has these effects by being absorbed, or, in 
other words, entering into the great circuit of the circulation, and 
thus exercising the specific or peculiar action of its constituents 
in promoting the various secretory and excretory processes, and 
thereby restoring the diseased system to a physiological condition. 

Such effects and changes wrought in the sick body are obviously 
an alteration, and the remedy that produces them is an alterative. 
This is but a part of a medicinal alterative, but it conveys a suffi- 
cient idea of its nature. 

The water is also remarkable for its power in reducing the force 
and frequency of the pulse, when unduly excited. Its influence in 
this respect should be regarded, not as a direct sedative effect 
of the agent, but as the result of its potency in abating general 



MEDICINAL CHAKACTER OP THE WATER. 9 

excitement, resolving inflammations and removing obstructions, 
thus bringing back the system to its normal condition. 

Experience in the administration of these waters has abundantly 
established the fact of their direct and positive influence in con- 
trolling and eradicating many diseases. Their eflects, when pro- 
perly used, are to revive the languishing circulation, to give a new 
direction to the vital eneigies, re-establish the perspiratory action 
of the skin, bring back to their physiological type the vitiated or 
suppressed secretions, provoke salutary evacuations, either by urine 
or stool, or by transpiration ; they bring about in the animal econ- 
omy an internal transmutation— iZ/zry^^///^^/ cJiaiige. Entering the 
circulation, they course through the system, and apply the medici- 
nal materials which they hold in solution in the most minute form 
of subdivision that can be conceived of, to the diseased surfaces 
and tissues ; they reach and search the most minute ramitications 
of the capillaries, and remove the morbid condition of these ves* 
sels, which are so commonly the primary seats of the disease. 

It is thus that they relieve chronic disorder action, and impart 
natural energ)' and elasticity to vessels that have been distended 
either by inflammation or congestion, while they communicate an 
energy to the muscular libre and to the animal tissues generally 
which is not witnessed from the administration of ordinary reme- 
dies. It is thus that they produce the alterative effect^ the *'/;'t?- 
found cha)ige'' upon the system, of which I have been speaking. 

It may be well to remark that all mineral waters, to a greater or 
less degree, are stimulants, and consequently are inapplicable to 
the treatment of acute or highly injlammatory diseases. This is 
especially true of the White Sulphur, particularly wheii drunk fresh 
at the spring and abounding in its stimulating gas. It is true that 
when its volatile gas has flown oft' it becomes far less stimulati?ig, 
and may be used with safety and success in cases to which in its 
perfectly fresh state it would be unadapted. But even in its least 
stimulating form it is inadmissible for excited or febrile conditions 
of the system, and especially in high inflammatory action, at least 
until the violence of such action has been subdued by other agents. 

But while these waters have excellent adaptations for the cure of 
many diseases, they are imadapted also to the treatment of others. 
It would be irrational to suppose that any medical agent capable 
of effecting so much good as is this water, when properly directed, 
should be incapable of doing harm when improperly used. In 
many cases in which it has a happy adaptation it fails of its good 
eff'ect from being improperly taken, while in a few cases its eflects 
would be injurious from its very nature, however it might be em- 
ployed. Some of the latter class of cases, very prominent in their 
importance, will be noticed under the distinct heading of ^''Diseases 
in which the water slwuld not be tcsed,'^ 



10 WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS. 



POPULAR BRROBS IN THE USB OP MINERAL TTATERS. 

Before entering upon the consideration of the diseases for which 
the White Sulphur VVater may be beneficially employed, I desire, 
for the benefit of invalids who may visit these or other mineral 
waters, to make a few remarks with the view of correcting some at 
least of the poptilar errors that exist in connection with the use of 
such waters ; and I trust that a life devoted to the investigation of 
this general subject will relieve me from any appearance of egotism 
in doing so. I regret that the limited space within vvhich I desire 
to confine this publication will not allow me to say as much upon 
the subject as I could wish to do. 

The first of the popular errors to which I call attention has refer- 
ence to the time invalids should use mineral waters. 

There is an opinion in the minds of not a few that such waters 
should not be drunk longer than a i!iven Jiumber of days, and that 
after such time they are prejudicial rather than beneficial. This is 
an error. There is no specific time during which invalids, speak- 
ing generally, should use this or any other mineral water. The 
time during which all such waters should be used depends upon 
the nature of the ease, the mariner in which they are used, the sus- 
ceptibilities of the case, and their effects upon the organism and the 
disease. 

There are periods, but u?icertain periods, in the use of the White 
Sulphur Water, when it ought to be suspended or discontinued ; 
but such periods can only be judged of by the effects, and not 
from any number of days during which it may have been drunk. 
If the water be not adapted to the disease and to the existing state 
of the system, of course it ought not to be used at all ; but if it be 
adapted, it ought to be persisted in until it produces its alterative 
or proper curative effects. 

It happens in many cases that some appropriate management is 
essential to prevent the water from having vagrant and undesirable 
operations, and to hasten its speedy and good effects; but it would 
be in vain to expect its use to result in a cure until it has been 
properly employed for a sufficierit length of time, (and this irrespect- 
ive of the number of days) to produce the desired effect. 

From two to eight weeks is the range of time within which it may 
be made to produce all its good effects, or bring the system into 
such a condition as insures a return to health. But in less than 
two weeks, however skillfully directed, it need not be expected that 
it will be productive of its full sanitary influences. 

The second popular error is that of hastily changing fro?n spring 
to spring, without staying sufl[iciently long at any one to produce 
lasting or permanent good impressions upon the disease. 



POPULAR ERRORS IN THE USE OP MINERAL WATERS. 11 

A restless disposition often causes invalids to fly from one spring 
to another, in the vain hope of greater good, when very probably 
the time they fruitlessly spent at several different springs would 
have been sufficient to cure them at any one of them that might 
be even tolerably adapted to their condition. 

This criticism does not apply to mere pleasure-seekers. They 
may properly go from spring to spring, and spend their time just 
where they are the happiest. 

But it is not so with invalids who have something for the waters 
to do. They should wisely select the waters best adapted to their 
cases, and use them properly and perseveringly until their unadapt- 
edness is shown, or until they have produced such eftects as the 
nature of the case demands. This being done, they can then with 
propriety resort to such other waters or baths as may be best 
adapted to their new condition. 

The popular errors manifested in the hap-hazard and experi- 
mental methods of using mineral waters are too numerous to be 
particularly considered in the space allotted to this subject, but 
they are too important to be entirely overlooked. 

Potent mineral waters that have been extensively used for many 
years have, it is reasonable to suppose, established with those who 
have experienced, or long obsei-ved their effects, definite and v/ell 
defined laws of operation upon the human system; or, in other 
words, have established certain hygienic and therapeutic laws, by 
the observance of which they may be taken understandingly, safely 
and in such manner to secure their sanative effects without incur- 
ring unnecessary delay or risk from improper administration. 

Nevertheless, many serious invalids, and those too who are de- 
sirous of speedy relief, will, with the utmost uncertainty of the 
correctness of such a course, enter upon the use of such waters 
entirely in an experimental way, and with as much disregard of the 
known laws of their administration, as if n*o such laws existed. 

Such expei-imentalists, by inefficient or untimely dosing, or, f. r 
more common, by overdosing^ sometimes, by using the remedy when 
they are under a temporary excitement, or other influences that 
prevent its good effect, (and which by a Htde precaution might 
speedily be removed,) or by using it ioo fresh, when it ought to be 
used stale, allow themselves either to be positively injured, or at 
least deprived of the benefits that might have resulted from its 
proper administration. 

Such tentative drinkers may now and then adopt the best course 
that could have been pursued, and all will go well; but in no iQ\>/ 
instances it happens that grave mistakes are made and real injury 
effected. But if no absolute injury shall have been done, it very 
commonly results that such experimentalists waste much time 
without deriving compensating advantages, and often, after a week 



12 WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS. 

or two of profitless experimenting, perceive the necessity of ceasing 
such a course, and begin the use of the agent de novo as it were, 
and as if they had never before taken it at all, and without having 
derived any advantage from the week or two, it may be, that they 
had been improperly using it. 

Invalids intending to use mineral waters for the treatment of 
their diseases should first satisfactorily ascertain what particular 
water is best calculated to cure their maladies, and before entering 
upon its use acquaint themselves with the proper way of using it, 
and with the general management and precautions necessary to be 
observed while under its use, not only in reference to the quantity 
and times of drinkmg, but also in reference to baths, the manner 
and periods of taking them, together with ^ proper general rule of 
living, as relates to diet, exercise and exposures, while they are 
under agencies and in a chmate to which they have not been 
accustomed. Thus properly informed, and prudently conforming 
to judicious instructions, they may reasonably hope to secure all 
the advantages that can be derived from such agents. 

The strength of the natural appetite for the goods things of this 
world and the dicta of fashion but too commonly over-ride the 
most judicious medical advice, at a fashionable watering place, in 
reference to diet and dress. Still I cannot conscientiously with- 
hold this well-meant warning to the serious invaHd at such places, 
to eat prudently, irrespective of the inducement which an active 
appetite may offer, and to clothe war?nly and avoid night exposure, 
whatever fashion may demand or temptation crave. 

BEST PERIOD OP THE YEAR FOR INVALID VISITATION. 

I am often asked by correspondents and others as to the best 
time ox period of the season for invalid visitation to the Springs. As 
this is a matter of no little importance to the invalid, I remark m 
reference to the White Sulphur that from the 15th of May to the 
middle of July is preferable to an earlier or later period of the sea- 
son. There are substantial reasons why invalids should make their 
visits within the range of the time mentioned, and that they should 
prefer an early rather than a late period of this range of time. 

I St. Because during this period we have the most delightful 
weather of the season — neither too warm nor too cool for exercise 
in the open air. 

2d. Because the crowd of mere pleasure-seekers has not set in 
up to this period ; the place is less crowded, and all the facilities 
and comforts of a quiet home are more easily and certainly ob- 
tained. 

3d. In the early period of the summer solstice, just after the 
cold and inclement weather of winter and early spring, and before 



BEST PERIOD OF THE YEAR FOR INVALID VISITATION. 13 

the sutterer has become enen^ated by the heat of the summer, 
chronic disease more readily yields to the alterative influence of the 
waters, and consequently the invalid is more certainly and speed- 
ily placed under their curative powers ; and 

4th. Because invalids, whose maladies have been essentially 
modified or cured in the early part of the summer, have a longer 
period of favorable weather, either here or elsewhere, in which to 
perpetuate and confirm their amendment and final cure, than those 
who might receive influences equally beneficial, but obtained at a 
later period of the summer. 

I might allude to other advantages enjoyed by the invalid who 
makes his visit to Mineral Waters early in the season; but let it 
suflice to remark, that my long observation as Medical Director of 
these waters has abundantly satisfied me of the decided advantage 
that attaches to early rather than late visitation by those who are 
seeking to secure the largest amount of benefit from their use. 
Hence I earnestly suggest to invalids who design visiting these 
waters in the course of the season not to postpone their visit to a 
late period of the season, and to choose an early rather than a late 
period of the time I have designated as preferable. Many inva- 
lids will derive as much advantage from three weeks' use of the 
water in June as they will from four in September. -.- 

But while the summer, and especially the early portion of it, is 
the preferable time for using the waters, they may nevertheless be 
drunk to advantage during the cold weather of the latey^?//, winter 
or early spring, provided that those who use them are properly 
protected by clothing suitable for the season, and by warm and 
comfortable lodging. 

nSEASES TO WHICH THE WHITE SULPHUR WATER IS 
APPLICABLE. 

For want of space I can only give a mere synopsis of the dis- 
eases for the cure of which the White Sulphur Waters have been 
long and successfully employed, referring my readers who desire 
more particular information upon this subject, as well as for the 
proper method of using the waters in the various diseases, to my vol- 
ume on "The Mineral Springs of North America." 

DYSPEPSIA. 

This very common and annoying disease, the especial scourge 
of the sedentary and the thoughtful, whether existing under the 
form of irritation of the mucous surface of the stomach, vitiation of 
the gastric juice, or under the somewhat anomalous characteristic 



14 WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS. 

of gastralgia, is treated with much success by a proper course of the 
White Sulphur Water. 

The apprehensive and dejected spirit that finds no comfort in 
the present and forebodes only evil in the future— the hesitating 
will that matures no purpose and desponds even in success — the 
emaciation of frame and haggardness of visage — the ever-present 
endurance and all the imaginary and real ills that torture the hap- 
less dyspeptic — are often made to yield to alterative and invigor- 
ating influences that a few weeks' judicious use of the waters have 
established. 

Administered alone, in every form of this disease, (for under the 
name oi dyspepsia we have several y^rwj of stomach disease essen- 
tially differing from each other, and requiring different modes of 
treatment,) its curative powers may not always be so marked ; but 
in several varieties of the disease, and those indeed which we most 
often witness, it deserves the very highest praise that can be con- 
ferred upon any remedy. In cases of this disease in which the 
liver is implicated, occasioning slow or unhealthy biliary secretions, 
a state of things that often exists, the water may be used with spe- 
cial advantage. To effect permanent or lasting cures in dyspepsia 
the waters should always be pressed to their complete alterative 
effects upon the system. 

CHRONIC IRRITAriON OF THE MUCOUS MEM- 
BRANE OF THE STOMACH AND BOWELS. 

The largest class of invalids that resort to our mineral fountains 
for relief are those afflicted with abdominal irritations, and especi- 
ally with irritations of the mucous coat of the stomach and boivels. 

These irritations are occasionally so marked by a super-added 
nervous mobility as to conceal their true character from the suf- 
ferer, and sometmies from his medical adviser. The disease is far 
more common in late that in former years. The number of cases 
at the White Sulphur has been, I am sure, more than triplicated 
within the last few years. It may be induced by any of the nu- 
merous causes whose tendency is to derange the digestive, assimi- 
lative and nervous functions, and is often connected with some 
indigestion, irregular or costive bowels, and with restlessness and 
unhappy forebodings of impending evils. I have much confidence 
in the waters in such cases when prudently and cautiously used, 
aided, if necessary, by proper adjunctive means, and pressed to 
their full alterative effects. * 



* For a more full account of this disease, its symptoms and treatment, see vol. 
on the "Mineral Springs of the South and Southwest," by the Author. 



CURATIVE POWEBS. 16 

LIVER DISEASES. 

Chronic disease of the liver, in some form or other, is a very- 
common disease of our country, especially in the warm latitudes 
and miasmatic districts. Very many aftected with this complaint 
have annually visited the White Sulphur for the last fifty or sixty 
years. In no class of cases ha\«e the effects of the waters been 
more fully and satisfactorily tested than in chronic derail gements of 
the liver. 

The viodus operandi of sulphur water upon the liver is dissimilar 
to that of mercury, and yet the effects of the two agents are strik- 
ingly analogous. The potent and controlling influence of the 
water over the secretory function of the liver must be regarded as 
a specific quality of the agent, and as constituting an important 
therapeutic feature in the value of the article for diseases of this 
organ. Its influence upon the liver is gradually but surely to un- 
load it when engorged and to stimulate it to a healthy performance 
of its functions when torpid. 

The control which this water may be made to exercise over the 
liver, in correcting and restoring its energies, is as often astonish- 
ing as it is gratify i]ig— establishing a copious flow of healthy bile, 
and a consequent activity of the bowels, imparting a vigor to the 
whole digestive and assimilative functions, and, consequently, 
energy and strength to the body, and life and elasticity to the 
spirits. 

For many years I have kept a ^^ Case-Book"" at the White Sulphur, 
and have carefully noted the influences of the water upon such 
cases as have been submitted to my management. Among the 
number are many hundred cases of chronic affections of the 
liver, embracing diseases of simpk excitement, chronic inflammation, 
engorgement, and obstructions of the biliary ducts, etc. These cases 
were treated either with the White Sulphur alone, or aided by some 
appropriate adjunctive remedy ; and, in looking at the results, I 
must be permitted to express a doubt whether a larger relative 
amount of amendments and cures has ever been effected by the 
usual remedies of the medical shop. This I know is high eulogy 
of the water in such diseases. It is considerately made, and is 
no higher than its merits justify. 

When, Schirrosity of the liver is suspected, the water, if used 
at all, should be used under the guard of a well-informed medical 
judgment ; for in actual Schirrosity, if it be pressed beyond its 
primary eflfects upon the stomach and bowels, it is very decidedly 
injurious. I have known several cases in which death was has- 
tenened by disregarding this caution. 

For a more full account of the influences of the water in Liver 
diseases, the reader is referred to the author's work on the " Mineral 
Springs of North America:' 



16 WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS. 

JAUNDICE. 

This is a form of liver disease in which obstructions prevent the 
free egress of the bile from the gall-bladder along its natural 
channels, and hence occasions its absorbtion into the general 
circulation. 

In cases of jaundice, in which the obstructing cause is inspis- 
sated bile, or very small calculi^ or when occasioned by inflamma- 
tion or spasm of the gall-ducts themselves, the White Sulphur 
Water, as might be expected from its influence over the liver, is 
used with tne happiest results. 

Indeed, the individuals affected with incipient or confirmed 
jaundice, and whose livers are free from scirihus, cannot place too 
much confidence in the use of the White Sulphur Water and baths^ 
with the occasional aid of mild adjunctive means to aid in its 
speedy action upon the liver and skin. Thus judiciously employed, 
and for a sufticient length of time, it invariably proves successful, 
either in curing the case or in bringing the system into the condi' 
tion under which a cure speedily results. 

In Schirrosity of the Liver it should never be used. 

CHRONIC DIARRHOEA. 

In Chronic Diarrheda, especially where the mucous coat of the 
bowels is principally implicated, and, still more, where the case is 
complicated with derangement of the stomach and liver, the Water 
is often employed with very gratifying effects. 

While the Water, properly taken, is a most invaluable remedy 
in Chronic Mucous Diarrhaa, in no other disease are prudence and 
caution more eminently demanded in its administration, and espe- 
cially for the first few days of using it. When prudently and cau- 
tiously prescribed in such cases, it is not only a perfectly safe 
remedy, but also eminently curative in its effects. Many of the 
most satisfactory results that I have ever accomplished by the pre- 
scription of the White Sulphur Water have been in cases of Chronic 
Mucous Diarrhoea. 

Serous Diarrhcea, of chronic character^ requires still greater 
caution in the early use of the W^ater than the mucous form to 
which I have been referring; and while the Waters, when care- 
fully introduced, constitute a valuable remedy in such cases, they 
will, if too largely taken, aggravate the worst symptoms of the 
disease.* 

COSTIVENESS. 

Habitual costiveness is a state of the system in which the Water 
has been extensively employed — sometimes successfully, some- 
times not. When the case depends upon depraved or deficient 



♦See the details of several interesting cases in the " Mineral Waters of the 
United States and Canada," by the Author. 



CURATIVE POWER. 1"? 

biliaiy secretions, much reliance may be placed upon the efficiency 
of this remedy, it it be carried to the extent of fully alterating the 
system, 

Costiveness, dependent upon inertia or loss of tone of the coats 
of the bowels, is among the most difficult of mere functional 
derangements to relieve. The persistent use of alteraiive doses of 
the Water will, however, sometimes. eflect it. But, most unwisely, 
many persons in this condition defeat their chance of a cure by 
the very improper practice of using cotnmon salt in the Water to 
render it purgative. Such a practice may answer a present pur- 
pose, but it does much to defeat the alterative effects of the 
Water, which is its great power in such cases. 

HAY FEVER. 

This disorder, periodical in its attacks, and in its symptoms much 
resembling an ordinary catarrh, is more or less common to all 
latitudes. Without being dangerous in its consequences, it is an- 
nually annoying to many persons, and especially about the period 
of the fall equinox. Great mountain altitudes as a summer and 
fall residence, with tonics as medicine, are most relied upon for 
modification or cuie. 

The elevation of the White Sulphur, 2,000 feet above the sea 
level, with immediate surrounding mountains of 3,500 feet, together 
with an atmosphere of great purity and elasticity, and the alter- 
ative and invigorating effects of the Water, very happily adapts it 
as a place of summer and fall residence for those afflicted with 
Hay Fever. I have rarely, if ever, seen a case of this disease here 
that was not benehtted ; in some cases entirely relieved for the 
season, in others greatly modified. In all cases I think more or 
less benefit has been derived. 

PILES. 

The use of mild laxatives in hcemorrhoids has long been a favor- 
ite practice for their relief. The beneficial effects of the Water in 
this disease is probably to some extent due to its Jaxative power, 
but still more, I apprehend, to its alterative effect upon the liver, 
through which the hfemorrhoidal vessels are favorably impressed. 

DISEASES OF THE URINARY ORGANS. 

The White Sulphur Water is used with very good effects in 
Gravel ; indeed, they almost invariably palliate such cases, and 
frequently, in their early stages, entirely cure them. 

Incipient calculus affections are relieved by the W^ater pretty 
much in proportion as it corrects the digestive and assimilating 
functions, improves the blood, and brings the genei'al economy into 
a natural type, preparing the kidneys to resist foreign encroach- 



18 WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS. 

ments upon their functions, and to elaborate, from healthy blood, 
proper and healthy secretions.* Where the affection depends 
upon acid predominance in the fluids, the Water never fails to pal- 
liate, and often cures the case. Whether or not this Water should 
be preferred to other remedies, in calculus affections, depends upon 
the diathesis that prevails in the system, and hence the urine should 
always be carefully analyzed, that we may not act in the dark in 
such cases. 

Chrofiic Liflammaiion of the Kid?ieys^ as well as similar affections 
of the bladder and urethra, are often successfully treated by a 
judicious use of the Waters. I have treated numerous cases of 
catarrh of the bladder successfully by a proper use of the Water 
and other appropriate remedies in connection with it, always re- 
garding the water, however, as the leading remedy in the case. 

Diabetes is a form of disease in which the Waters have occa- 
sionally been used with excellent effect. 

Spermatorrhcea, often painfully implicating the nervous system, 
and producing extreme debility, not only of the sexual organs, but 
also of the general system, is often greatly benefitted at these 
Springs. This disease is generally found compHcated with a con- 
dition of the skin and glandular organs, and not unfrequendy oi 
the mucous surfaces, that eminently require the aid of alterative 
remedies. In all such complications the Waters are fouud very 
valuable as a primary means, preceding and preparing the system 
for the use of more decided tonic remedies. 

FEMALE DISEASES. 

In Female diseases, in their various chronic forms of amenorrhcea 
or suppressed menstruation, dysmenorrhea, or painful menstruation, 
chlo7vsis and leucorrhtea, the waters of the White Sulphur have 
been much employed. When the cases have been judiciously dis- 
criminated, and were free from the combinations and states of the 
system that contra indicate the use of the Waters, they have been 
employed with beneficial results. 

CHRONIC AFFECTIONS OF THE BRAIN. 

It is only since I inaugurated the custom of using the Water in 
its wigaseous fonn (thirty-nine years ago) that it has been taken 
successfully, or even tolerated by the system, in chronic inflamma- 
tion of the brain. I need, therefore, scarcely apprise my readers 
that it is only in its strictly ungaseotis form that it should be used 
in such cases, and then in a careful and guarded manner. Thus 
prescribed, I have in several instances found it beneficial. 



^See " Mineral Waters of the United States and Cauda," by the Autho?, 



CURATIVE POWER. 



NERVOUS DISEASES. 



19 



Neiualgia, in some form or other, has become a very cornmon 
disease in every part of our country, and the number that visit the 
White Sulphur suffering with this protean and painful malady is 
very considerable. Sometimes this disease exists as a primary or 
independent aflection, but far more frequently as a consequence of 
visceral or organic derangements. Where such is found to be the 
case, the White Sulphur Waters are used with the very best results. 
As an altentfire, to prepare the neuralgic for receiving the more 
tonic waters to advantage, it deserves the largest confidence by 
those afhicted with this annoying malady. 

PARALYSIS. 

The number of paralytics that resort to the White Sulphur is 
large, and their success in the use of the Waters various. Cases 
resulting from dyspeptic depravities are oftener benefitted than 
those that have resulted from other causes. In almost every case, 
however, some benefit to the general health takes place, and some- 
times an abatement of the paralysis itself. 

BREAST COMPLAINTS. 

In ttibercuhir cansumptlon, whetlier the tubercles be incipient 
or fully developed, the White Sulphur Water should not be used. 
Its effects in such cases would be prejudicial. But there are other 
forms of breast camplaints in which the waters have been found 
valuable, particularly in that form described as 

SYMPATHETIC CONSUMPTION.* 

This form of breast complaint is the result of morbid sympathies 
extended from some other parts of the body, and more commonly 
from a diseased stomach or liver. The great par vagum nerve, 
common to both the stomach and lungs, affords a ready medium 
of sympathy between these two organs. In protracted cases of 
dyspepsia the stomach often throws out morbid influences to the 
windpipe and surfaces of the lungs, occasioning cmigh^ expectora- 
tion, pain in the breast, and many other usual symptoms of genuine 
consumption. So completely, indeed does this translated affection 
wear the livery of the genuine disease that it is often mistaken for 
it. This form of disease comes often under my notice at the 
Springs, and I frequently witness the happiest results from the 
employment of the Water in such cases, and the more so because 
its beneficial effects resolve a painful doubt that often exists in the 
mind of the patient as to the true character of the disease. 



'Bee " Mineral "Waters of the United States and Canadaa," by the Author, 



20 WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS. 

BRONCHITIS. 

This aftection is often met with at the Springs, sometimes as a 
primary affection of the bronchia, and often as a result of other 
affections, and especially of derangements of the digestive and 
assimilative organs. In such translated cases we frequently find 
the bro?ichitis relieved in the same degree that the originally dis- 
eased organs are benefitted. 

CHRONIC DISEASES OF THE SKIN. 

The various chronic diseases of the skin are treated with much 
success by a full course of White Sulphur Waters, in connection 
with a liberal course of v.arm or hot sulphur baths. My experi- 
ence in the treatment of the various forms of shiji disease with this 
Water has been large, embracing certainly, in the aggregate, many 
hundreds of cases; and I would do injustice to such experience, 
and withhold important hopes from the sufferers from such annoy- 
ing afflictions, if I failed to express my entire confidence in their 
employment in such cases. Aided by mild alterative means, 
proper in themselves, but which of themselves would not generally 
cure such cases, a thorough course of the Water and baths is enti- 
tled to the highest degree of confidence in all such affections. 

RHEUMATISM. 

The primitive reputation of the Water, and that which at an 
early day directed public attention to its potency,was derived from 
its successful employment in rheumatism. The reputation thus 
early acquired has not been lost, but, on the contrary, established 
and confirmed by its successful use for three-quarters of a century. 

In most rheumatic cases the employment of warm or hot sul- 
phur baths constitutes a very valuable adjunct in their treatment. 

With the Sulphur Water as a drink, and the use of the hot tub^ 
douche and sweating baths of the same water, this place offers the 
strongest inducements for the resort of persons afflicted with 
chronic rheumatism that can anywhere be found. 

Want of space will not allow me to describe the various forms 
of rheumatic trouble, and to speak of the relative merits of the 
waters in the several forms of this disease. I remark, however, 
that while they prove eminently beneficial in all forms of chronic 
rheufjiatisni, they are more decidedly so in those cases that may 
properly be termed muscular, in distmction from articular rheuma- 
tism, and this is so whether the cases arise from masmatic, mer- 
curial, or other more common causes of the disease. A full 
course of the waters, with baths properly tempered to the demands of 
the case, is essential to a perfect cure. 



CtTRATlVE POWJIR. 21 

GOUT. 

The gouty are numerous among the habitues of the White Sul- 
phur. In proportion as the waters impress the digestive and assim- 
ilate organs they benefit gout. 

Those who come here with confirmed gout often assure me that 
a course of the waters and baths invariably brings such amehora- 
tion of their sufferings for about a year; that is, from one season to 
another. Hence it is that we so often find the same gouty subjects 
here regularly from year to year. 

CHRONIC POISONING FROM LEAD 

Is very advantageously treated by a full course of the water and 
baths. When used with sufficient persistency, they may well be 
regarded as the most reliable remedy to which persons thus 
afflicted can have recourse, and to such I earnestly recommend a 
trial of them, the more especially because the ordinary remedies in 
such cases are admittedly very unreliable. 

SCROFULA. 

Sulphur Waters have long been held in reputation in the treat- 
ment of scrofula. Some of the English physicians have thought 
such waters superior to any other remedy in scrofula. Dr. Salis- 
bury, of Avon, New York, speaks favorably of his experience of 
their use in such diseases. 

In the early stages of scrofula the White Sulphur has often been 
used with decided advantages, but in the advanced stages of this 
disease I do not consider them at all equal in curative powers to 
some other mineral waters in this region. 

SECONDARY AND TERTIARY SYPHILIS AND MER- 
CURIO SYPHILOID. 

In the unpleasant and dreaded forms of disease sometimes fol- 
lowing syphilis, and commonly known as secondary or tertiary 
syphilis, whose symptoms are usually so well marked that they can 
not be misunderstood, the White Sulphur Water, when carried to 
its full alterative effects, displays its highest curative powers. 

After much experience in the use of the waters, in the peculiar 
forms of disease under consideration, if called upon to name the 
particular affection in which they are most certainly efficacious, I 
should name secondary syphilis and its complications with mercurial 
contamination, because in such cases they exert a specific influ- 
ence, and more certainly than any other remedy bring relief. 

It is proper that I remark, however, that my satisfactory use of 
the water in such cases has generally been connected with the 
moderate use of other means while patients are taking the water, 



22 WHtTB SULPfltJR SPRINGS. 

and which, though regarded as remedial, will not of themselves 
generally eradicate the disease, but when employed in combination 
with the waters very much hasten the desired result. The waters 
in such cases are the most efficient power— the means employed 
with them only valuable adjuvants to hasten their curative effects. 

MERCURIO SYPHILOID. 

There is an enfeebled, susceptible and peculiar condition of the 
system not unfrequently found to arise as the result of a long-con- 
tinued or improper use of mercury in syphilitic disease, and espe- 
cially in subjects of scrofulous tendency. It seems to be the 
resultant effect produced by the actions of the two poisons — mer- 
cury and the syphilitic virus constituting a disease sui generis, and 
neither strictly mercurial or syphilitic, but a hybrid. This peculiar 
disease or state of the system I designate as mercurio syphiloid. I 
have most frequently met with this peculiar affection in persons of 
strong lymphatic temperament, and in those of strumous tendency. 
Such cases exhibit some of the characteristics of ordinary mercu- 
rial disease as well as those of secondary syphilis, but the disease 
as a whole is not distinctly marked as either. In such cases the 
antidotal effects of the mercury has probably subdued the virus of 
the venereal poison, while the joint action of the two has created 
a new disease, as loathsome, but not as infectious, as the one for 
the cure of which the mercury was originally administered. 

In such cases the waters constitute the best remedy known to 
me. I know that some may regard my designation of this hybtid 
disease as singular as its announcement is new, but nevertheless 
ample opportunities for many years for examining such cases estab- 
lishes, in my judgment, the correctness of the opinion I express. 



EFFECTS or THE WATER IN INEBRIATION, 

During the whole period of my residence at the Springs I have 
been interested with the marked power I have seen manifested by 
the waters in overcoming the desire for the use of ardent spirits in 
those who have been addicted to their imprudent use. I by no 
means claim that these waters should be regarded as a specific 
against either the love or the intemperate use of alcoholic drinks, 
Init simply that a proper use of them is a decided preventive of 
that feeling of necessity or desire for the use of strong drinks which 
drives the inebriate to use them, in despite of his own judgment 
to the contrary ; or, in other words, that their proper use allays or 
destroys the aptitude or nervous craving for ardent spirits, and to 
such an extent that even the habitual drinker and confirmed ine- 
briate feels little or no desire for them while he is properly using 
the waters. 



CtJRATlVE POWER* 23 

During my long residence at these Springs I have witnessed 
hundreds of cases fully justifying the above statement. This pecu- 
liar influence of the "White Sulplmr Water depends, first, upon the 
action of the sulpJmrattd hydrogen gas that abounds in it, and which 
is an active nervine stimulant, and as such supplies the want the 
inebriate feels for his accustomed alcoholic stimulant; and, sec- 
ondly, it depends upon the alterative influences exerted by the 
waters upon the entire organism. While by its alterative power 
the entire animal structure is brought into natural and harmonious 
acting, there is a consequent subsistence of the cerebral and nerv- 
ous irritation which always prevails in the habitual drunkard, the 
abatement of which enables him to exert a moral power greater 
than he could before, and sufficient to overcome the lessened de- 
mand which his old habit, if he retains it in any degree, now makes 
upon him. 

In the initiatory, or forming stage of intemperance, the free use 
of this water may be much relied upon to modify, or entirely pre- 
vent, the temptation for strong drink ; and even in the confirmed 
stage its persevering use may inaugurate a state of the system that 
will essentially aid the sufferer in o^■ercoming the hurtful habit of 
intemperance. Indeed, if the habitual drinker can be prevailed 
upon to use the water properly for some ten days, to the entire 
exclusion of alcoholic stimulants, he Mill have for the time, at least, 
but little alcoholic temptation to resist. 

Of course I will not be .so misunderstood by any as to suppose 
that I design even to intimate an opinion that this water is a sure 
and permanent cure for either absolute or threatened inebriation. 
All I intend to assert in this connection is, that a proper and con- 
tinuous use of the water will very essentially aid the intemperate 
drinker to lay aside the inebriating cup and return to soberness. 

The will of the excessive drinker must necessarily concur to some 
extent with any effort successfully made for his relief. But while 
this is so, an auxiliary agent, as innocent in its effects as Sulphur 
Water, that can so far satisfy the nervous cravings of the votary of 
strong drink as to give him increased power to resist his morbid 
habit, while at the same time his general health is improved, well 
deserves, I conceive, the attention of all who need assistance in 
this direction. 

It would be irrational for the inebriate to expect to be cured of 
his morbid habit by simply visiting the Spring and drinking of its 
water, however freely, and at the same time (which has been the 
habit of some) to drink freely also of alcoholic liquors. Such a 
course could be of no service' whatever. Stimulants of whatever 
kind, in such a case, must be abstained from while the water is estab- 
lishing its peculiar action upon the system. This effected, which 
can ordinarily be accomplished in ten or twelve days, the success 



24 WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS. 

of further persistence in the use of the water is hopeful^ and easily 
thereafter under the control of the individual who is seeking relief. 
The erection of the new Hotel here, adapted as it will be for the 
comfort of winter boarders^ aftbrds an opportunity to those who 
may desire to avail themselves of the aid of the waters in breaking 
up established or threatened habits of intemperance, that is well 
worthy of consideration. The v/aters are as effectual to that end 
in cold as in warm weather, while the absence of a large company 
during the fall, winter and early spring is greatly favorable to those 
periods for such use of them. 

USE OF THE WATEE BY OPIUM EATEHS. 

I am occasionally consulted by distant parties who are apprised 
of the effects of the water in allaying the desire for ardent spirits, 
whether or not it has the same effects in reference to the desire 
for opiates. 

Upon this subject I remark that my obser^-ations cf the influ- 
ences of the water in assisting \)c\^ inebriate to discontinue the use 
of alcoholic drinks, when his will assents to such discontinuance, 
very naturally led me to hope that it might afford similar assist- 
ance, under a like consent of the will, to the opium cater. But a | 
good deal of difficulty lies in the way of making reliable observa- 
tions upon this subject. Opium eaters, even more than excessive 
drinkers, are indisposed to divulge their morbid propensity to their , 
friends or physician, or to seek, through the aid of either, to be ] 
relieved of their hurtful habit; consequently, while personally I 
have known hundreds of visitants to the Springs who I was satis- 
fied eat opium to excess, and some to very great excess,^ neverthe- ^ 
less I have had but few cases of inveterate opium eating placed 
fully under my professional government, with the single view of 
being cured of the habit. Some such cases, however, 1 have had, 
in which the sufferers freely and fully communicated to me the fact 
of their injurious habit, expressed earnest desire to be relieved, and 
continued during the treatment to exercise all the force of will of 
which they were capable to render my advice and prescriptions 
successful. In one of these cases, entirely successful in its treat- 
ment, the person had been in the habit for a long time of usmg 
not less than six grains of morphia daily. 

The space allotted to this notice will allow me only now to say 
that in the few cases alluded to I used the waters very fully, but 
always /// connection with other tneans that I deemed essential, that 
the success of the combined treatment was very satisfactory, that 
in my opinion the influence of the water, by lessening the nervous 
craving for opiates, materially aided in the results, and that such 
results would not have taken place if the waters had not been 
used. In the case alluded to, a generous confidence on the part 



CURATIVE POWER. ^5 

of the sufferer, which led to prompt observance of professional 
advice, contributed much, I conceive, especially in the commence- 
ment of the treatment, to favorable results. 

The most that can confidently be said in favor of the use of the 
waters in such cases — and all that ought to be said — is that when 
they -diX^ judiciously used and in connection with proper adjunctive 
management and appliances, they essentially aid the opium eater in 
dispensing entirely with the use of that drug. I will only add 
that, in my management ot such cases, I have not found it best 
to exclude the entire use of the drug when* the patient yfr^/ com- 
mences the use of the ivater, as I advise shall be done in the case 
of the inebriate. 

I have not hitherto published anything upon this subject, simply 
from the fact that I am satisfied that the treatment of such cases 
by the waters, to be successful, requires careful professional man- 
agement, with appropriate adjunctive means — that the water is 
only an efficient aid, and not a specific — and that the management 
necessary in connection with it, to give success, depends too much 
upon the precise circumstances of each case to justify a broad 
recommendation without numerous and essential qualifications. 

DISEASES IN WHICH THE WATERS SHOULD NOT BE USED 

I have heretofore mentioned some diseases and states of the 
system in which these waters should not be used. As mistakes upon 
this subject are matters of importance, I here recapitulate oft re- 
peated cautions, as to some of the more important diseases, and 

First. They should not be used in Tubercular Consumption. 

Second. They should not be used in Schirrus or Cancer ; or in 
that condition of the stomach, liver, or any other organ, threaten- 
ing to terminate in Schirrus or Cancer. 

Third. They should 7iever be used in Hyperthrope or morbid 
Enlargement of the Heart. In such cases the use of the water or 
baths always aggravates the disease, and if persisted in will very 
much haste7i a fatal terrnination. 

For more than thirty years, by my writings and oral declara- 
tions, I have warned the Spring going public against using these 
waters in enlarged heart; and yet, sudden deaths from this cause 
continue occasionally to occur here, either from not knowing or 
disregarding such important warnings. 

As the Medical Director of these waters, and desirous as I am 
that their use shall be strictly confined within their legitinate power 
of doing good, and as a friend to common humanity, I trust that 
those afflicted with disease that the waters cannot cure, but must 
aggravate, will be careful to abstam from using them. 

The vital importance of these caveats to the unfortunate invalids 
fully justifies the earnestness with which I give them. 



26 WHITE STOPHUR SPRINGS, 

CHALYBEATE SF&INa 

About forty rods from the White Sulphur is a Chalybeate Spring, 
in which the iron exists in the form of a carbo7iate of iron, the 
mildest, least offensive, and ordinarily the most valuable form in 
which ferruginous waters are found. 

For the last twenty years this water has been considerably used 
by the class of visitors whose diseases required an iron tonic, and 
its effects have realized the rational hopes that were indulged in it. 

BATHS AT THE WHITE SULPHUE. 

Warm and Hot Bathing, especially in highly medicated waters, 
is a remedy of leading importance in a large number of the cases 
that resort to mineral waters for relief. 

The water used for bathing at the White Sulphur flows from the 
Sulphur Springs of ivhich the visitors drink. When we look at the 
analysis of this water, and find it to contain about one hundred 
and ^{\.y graifis of active medicinal salts to the gall on, \,'^ cannot fail 
to see that, so far as the medication of waters can favorably affect 
the bath for which they are use'd, the White Sulphur baths have 
the strongest claim to confidence, inasmuch as no other waters in 
America that are used for bathing, except the Washita Springs, in 
Arkansas, are more highly impregnated with mineral salts. 

These baths, in connection with the drinking of the sulphur 
waters, although not required in every case, are a matter of the 
utmost importance in a large number of cases in aitrling to produce 
the best effects of the waters. 

Impressed Avith the great value, in fact the absolute necessity to 
some invalids, of using such baths in connection with the drinking 
of the water, the proprietors of the Springs have recently greatly 
enlarged and so remodeled their bathing establishment as to make 
it in every respect satisfactory, it is believed, to those who may 
desire to avail themselves of its use. 

The bathing house is large, affording ample accommodations for 
the bather. The bathing-rooms are spacious, airy and comfort- 
able, and in addition to the usual tub baths they have erected 
douche baths for the application of streams of hot or warm water 
to local parts of the body, and have set apart rooms arranged for 
receiving j7£/<?^//>^^ baths. 

The construction of douche and siveating baths of sulphur water, 
to be employed under proper circumstances, in connection with 
the internal use of the water, is a matter of the utmost importance 
to the successful treatment of numerous cases that resort here for 
relief. 

The new and improved method of heating water for bathing 
deserves to be especially noted. This is effected by steam in the 
vessel in which it is used, and is a great improvement over the old 



SOCIETy AND ITS AMUSEMBNT8. 27 

method of heating mineral waters for bathing. Under the old 
plan of heating in a boiler and thence conveying the water to the 
bathing tub much of its valuable saline matter Avas precipitated 
and lost. ]>y this improved method of applying steam to the 
water in tiie tub the heat is never so great in raising the water to 
the bathiiig i)oint as to cause any important precipitation of its 
raits ; hence, they are left in tlieir natural suspension in the waters 
to exert their specific effect upon the bather. Not only so, by 
this improved method hot steam may be let into the tub from time 
to time, as the water cools, so as to keep it essentially of the same 
temperature during the entire period of bathing, a consideration 
often of no small importance. This method of heating mineral 
waters in the tub in which they are used, in connection with the 
douche and siveaiing baths, brings hot and warm bathing at this 
place in favorable competition with bathing at naturally hot and 
warm fountains, and promises to be productive of the same good 
effects that are experienced from bathing in such fountains. 

Persons intending to bathe in hot sulphur water should, pre- 
viously to doing so, be mteliigently instructed under a proper 
knowledge of their case, as to the precise temperature of the bath, 
and the It-ugtJi of time they remain in it. Neglect, or disregard of 
proper instructions, the relying upon chance or the mere dictum of 
ignorance upon this subject, has often been the cause, within my 
knowledge, of aggravation of symptoms, and in several instance's 
of serious consequences. I state, therefore, for the benefit of 
bathers in sulphur waters, that such baths, to be used safely and 
efficaciously^ must be used with careful reference to their tempera- 
ture ; the state of the system when employed ; and the length of tifne 
the bather remains in them. 

SOCIETY AND ITS AMUSEMENTS. 

Next to the medical value of the water of the \\'hite Sulphur, 
and the invigorating climate of the place, the company that annu- 
ally assembles there is most worthy of notice. 

The prestige of the VV^hite Sulphur for all that is elegant and 
refined in society is coeval with its early history. For many years 
it has been the great central point of reunion for the best society 
of the South, North Kast and AVest, that here mingle together 
under circumstances well calculated to promote social intercourse, 
and to call out the kindliest feelings of our nature. 

The cottage system that has been introduced, although new to 
American watering places, has proved a complete success, and 
greatly contributed to the home-like comforts and the socially of 
the numerous fam.ilies assembled here. 

Society seems here to meet on common ground, and the differ- 
ent shades of feeling influencing it at home are laid aside, while 
each individual promotes his own happiness by contributing to the 
happiness of others. 



28 WHITE StJLPflUR SPRINGS. 

Here is to be found the statesman who, worn down with labor, 
and his mind unstrung by the cares of office, seeks from the brac- 
ing air, the picturesque scenery, and the genial company, not less 
than from the health-giving waters, that recuperation of his wasted 
energies in vain sought for elsewhere. Here, too, is found the 
man of letters, seeking rest from thought and strength for future 
effort. The poet, too, is here, to quaff vigor from the sparkling 
fountain, and new images of beauty from nature's lavish stores 
that are spread around him ; and here, too, come in crowds those 
who have ever plumed the poet's fancy to its sublimest flights — 
beauteous woman — by her presence brightening every prospect 
and gracing every scene. Following naturally in her train come 
those who ever love to bask in beauty's smiles, and find in such 
scenes the happiest of their youthful hours. Here, too, congre- 
gate the reverend clergy, the doctor, the lawyer, the judge,wearied 
with the burdens of the bench ; the man of commerce, the finan- 
cier, the thrifty planter, the sturdy farmer, and the retired man of 
wealth and ease. These, reckoned by thousands, make up the 
company that annually give tone and character to the White Sul- 
phur, and make it at once the Athens and the Paris of America, 

The amusements are various in kind and degree. No sketch 
can give more than a faint shadowing of the pleasures of a visit to 
the Springs. The freedom from care, the relaxation from bonds 
which have fettered us to the treadmill of business — the pure 
mountain air, every breath of which swells the veins and makes 
the blood tingle with delight — the wild mountain scenefry, awak- 
ening new thoughts of the grandeur of creation and the mighty 
power of God — the amenities of social intercourse, relieved from 
those necessary but vexatious rules of etiquette which hem in 
fashionable life at home — all these combine to render a visit to 
the White Sulphur an epoch in life to be looked forward to, and 
back upon, with pleasurable emotions. 

The weary pilgrim, coursing over the burning sands of the East, 
does not hail the sight of an oasis in mid desert with more joy 
than the habitues of the '-' White," worn down by cares or trouble, 
welcome the first glimpse of the sparkling fountain, and the ver- 
dant lawns encircled by cottage homes ; to him they promise rest, 
comfort, health, while to others they tell of pleasures past and joys 
to come. And why ? For answer, let us briefly sketch the scenes 
of a single day at the Springs. 

The morning has dawned; the forest songster, in saluting the 
opening day, has softly wakened the sleeper; the full, round face 
of the sun soon appears above the neighboring mountain peak ; 
the silvery vapor glides upward from the vail beneath, the fleecy 
clouds are gone, and the dewy fragrance of the morning air invites 
to active exercise. The visitors now gather around the health- 



SOCIETY AND ITS AMUSEMENTS. 29 

giving fountain, and, after quaffing its waters, wend their way to 
the morning meal. This over, the business of active enjoyment 
for the day begins. 

The pleasant walks that penetrate the lawns and environ the 
ground invite many to healthful exercise. The billiard saloon, 
with its numerous tables, entices many votaries; the bowling alleys 
soon resound with the merry laugh of youth and beauty ; and thus 
the hours glide swifUy away; while from angther portion of the 
grounds is heard the clear, keen report from the pistol gallery, 
telling how promptly young America is preparing to avenge his 
insulted honor. 

The beautiful rides and drives, with their glorious mountain and 
intervale scenery, attract some, while the quiet game, the alluring 
book, or the pleasant companion, solace many others. Thus they 
take no note of time, save from its loss, until the warning sound 
of the dinner-bell rings forth the noontide hour, calling to prepare 
for the mid-day meal. Again the fountain is thronged, and then 
to the sound of rich-toned music, discoursed by a well-trained 
band, the crowd, after the hour of preparation has elapsed, assem- 
ble in the immense and well-furnished drawing room for a brief 
social reunion before partaking of the great meal of the day. 
Dinner over, the drawing-room again becomes the centre of attrac- 
tion. Jn this room, during the crowded season, are each day 
brought pleasantly together a gay and richly dressed assembly, 
excelled in beauty, manliness and dignity by no other crowd ever 
assembled within the broad limits of our common country. Here 
congregate the fairest of the fair from every State, and one can 
gaze and gaze on beauty until the heart reels in its very fullness. 

The company, weary with converse or the promenade, retire 
to their cottage homes, or to the inviting shade of the wide-spread 
oaks, underneath which, in by-gone years, the savage danced, or 
the antlered monarch of the forest tossed his crest, now given up 
to the happy crowd, who in genial converse wile the hours away 
until the lengthened shadows and the fragrant air again invite to 
the walk, the ride, the drive, or other active exercise. Then is 
heard the summons to a social reunion at tea table, after which 
the spirit-stirring music calls the young and the gay to the giddy 
whirl of the ball-room. Here pleasure reigns supreme — the heart- 
toned laugh, the witty word, the amiable repartee, all tell that 
those assembled here are just sipping the bubbles from the over- 
flowing cup of joy. 

Nowhere else can such a scene be witnessed ; nowhere else can 
such a scene be more innocent than here. Thus flit away the glad 
hours until the warning night bids to calm repose. Such is, as it 
were, a shadowy oudine of a day at the White Sulphur. 



30 WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS. 

But I cannot close this sketch without mentioning another phase 
of society at the Springs, and one that must commend itself to 
every well-ordered mind. I allude to the repectable observance, 
by the company generally, of the Sabbath day. Throughout this 
entire day a profound tjuiet pervades the grounds, and the places 
of worship are thronged by full and attentive congregations. 
Nothing could better evidence the conservative influence of society 
here than the respectful and reverential attention with which the 
vast concourse honor the sacred claims of the Sabbath. 



^1^*'- 



aNNO UNCEMENT. 
GREENBRIER 

v' 

WEST VIRGINIA. 



itf ^iliiiir ^f riiijii 



Bo long and favorably known for their valuable Alterative Waters, 
their charming Summer climate, and the large and fashionable crowds 
that annually resort to them, will be opened on 1st June. 

RATES OF CHARGES FOR SEASON OF 1879, VIZ : 

Board. $3.00 per day; $17.50 per week; $(jo.00 per mouth, 
of tuenty-eight days. 

t^ Special arrangements may be made for large families that spend the 
season here. 

^'Special Rates will also be made/<?r September and October. 

ig^ChildreJi and Colored Servants half price. White Servants in propor- 
tion to the accommodations furnished. 

Jt^^ FHrst-class Band will be in attendance to enliven the Lawns and 
Bali Room. 

^^ Masquerade and Fancy Balls occasionally through the season. 

'^'Telegraphic line in operation to the Springs. 

li;^"A Livery is kept for the accommodation of visitors. Horses kept 
at $20 per mouth, or $15 when groomed by visitors' servants. 

^"A well organized Laundry, where all washing for the guests will 
be neatly doiis at low rates — and to protect ourselves and our guests 
from loss and outside intrusion, we must insist that the washing of 
visitors be confined to our laundry^ for the proper management of which 
we are always responsible. 

E^The Lessees wish it to be distinctly understood that the use of the 
White Sulphur Water, Baths and Grounds will be strictly confined to those 
itho are the guests of these establishments, and that their use wiU be withheld 
from all others, except upon their paying $2 per day for such use. Perma- 
nent residents of the county alone excepted. 



PHYSICIAN TO THE SPRINGS. 

I^^We have the pleasure to inform those who design to visit the 
Springs that Prof. J. J. MOORMAN, M. D., well known as the author 
of several valuable books on Mineral Waters, and of the work just 
published on the "Mineral Springs op North America," and for 
forty years Physician to the White Sulphur, will be found at the 
Springs in that capacity. 



GEO. L. PEYTON & CO. 



DRY CREKK. 

The Proprietors of the White Sulphur announce to the spring 
going pubhc that they are now the rentors of the Calwell 
House, at Dry Creek, a comfortable and extensively improved 
establishment, and that it is now open for the entertainment ol 
visitors and others. 

Persons boarding at the Calwell House will have the privi-i 
lege of the Water and Grounds of the White Sulphur in commom 
with all other visitors to our Springs. 



l^*The rate of charges at that establishment will, for the present 

season, be as follows, viz : 

Board, per day $2 OO'I 

" week 12 00( 

*' " month of twenty-eight days 40 00( 

GEO, L. PEYTON & CO., 

Proprietors White Sulphur Springs. 



OF 



NORTH AMERICA. 
HOW TO REACH AND HOW TO USE THEM. 



BY 



J. J. MOORMAN, M.D. 

Resident Physician at the Si»rin?;s. 

For S(ile at the ^privrja^ and 

J. B. LIPPINCOTT & CO., Publishers, Philadelphia. 



♦••^ 



AGENTS FOR THE SALE OF THE WATER ; 

Phm,a„k,,phia HF,N'RYC.BI,\IR'.S SONS. 

( Stli and Walnut Streets. 
*'■''<"*''''■ 1 18th and Chestnut Streets. 

Hai.iimori....- COLEMAN & ROGERS. 

Richmond, Va PURCELL, LADD & CO. 



e^All these AKenti* have constantly on banri frebh .supplies of WHITE 
SULPHUR WATBE rlireot from the Springs. They also furnish pamfht.kts ffi\in? 
a full description of tho WATERS, their medical properties, &(%,as well as infor- 
mation in regard to accommodations, ways of reaching: the Sprin^^s. &c., &c. 

G. I.. PEYTON A CO- 



E. H. STTJART «te CO., 



Larjjo and VashionaM'^ assortmont of Ladif^s and (tpntlf>mpn s §UMME£ GOOES, 
t=r~A FASHIONABLE MILIiENERY BSTAHLISHMENT ad.joininjr the Store, 

Also-erMEKCHANT TAILORS ESTABLISHMENT. Will furnish or make 
up goods to order. 



SEiB 



p r 

i 



iiiiiiis i 11 iiim^s 



ill 



AT THE CLOSE OF THIS PAMPHLET 



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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



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